Googly Eyes

Emma Kate wanted this game for quite awhile. We took it to my parent's house after Christmas and played it together. It was hilarious just to see each other in the silly glasses...even Gigi wore a pair!

New Quilt, New Camera, New Hamster

I am quilting this one up this weekend and so I needed to snap a few pictures.

I am trying out a new camera...it is wifi enabled which should make getting pictures to the blog easier...but learning a new camera takes away from quilting time.

These are straight out of the camera and I am not loving it. They are a bit washed out and not at all vibrant.

I am sure that is photographer error...

It is such a bright quilt and so beautiful in person, so I really struggle with getting what I can see here for you to see.

In other news, we welcomed Lewis to the family this weekend. He has more personality than I could imagine a hamster could! EK is smitten and I love that. She said he was the best birthday gift ever!

This was also taken on the new camera. 

Sigh. Something new to learn...

I have a problem...

In order to keep myself straight on what fabrics are going with what quilts, I made a chart. Some of these are in progress while others I am still in the hunting-gathering stage of getting the needed supplies. Some quilts are bound and need quilting, others are cut and ready to piece. Some are just in the planning stage.

Is it a problem that to keep it all together, I had to make myself a chart? Surely, there are worse problems to have. To be quite frank, my bigger problem is lack of sewing time. I am getting a few hours this weekend to sew and knock one of these work-in-progress quilts off my list. I will share the finished product here soon!

My husband, friends, children, and even middle school students can attest to these statements being true...

Dutch Tulips

Click to grab

I love the flexibility in quilting and that once you master a particular skill or learn a square, you can do a great many things with the completed block. I had my eye on this pattern and the linear way the flowers are posed instantly made me think of a table runner. 

Table runners are great quilting projects to stick in between larger projects because they are quick and easy to finish. The one I've made could have been completed in a weekend, though I worked on it a bit here and there over the course of a week. 

I took the basic flower block and created eight and added some sashing and solid square spacer blocks to create my table runner. Though my runner is two flowers by four flowers, you could make it three by five to make a larger runner (and I plan to next time!). 

The pattern was very easy to follow, as all of "it's sew Emma" patterns are. They are written in "everyday" language and the measurements are not fussy.

I used fabric scraps for this pattern and while I LOVE scrappy designs, the muslin that I used for the piecing was flimsy and did not hold its shape well. The color is nice and rustic, almost like a linen or light burlap, but sewing with it was the pits. 

 

At this point, I laid my flowers out and added in the spacers. It didn't quite feel ready to piece and I felt that something was still missing...

I added some solid square blocks here and there and continued the solid sashing  as a border. It spaced the flowers out from each other and broke up all of the linen-colored fabric solids. 

I basted this the way you would any quilt (I spray baste) and quilted VERY simply, adding straight lines to the borders and just a few randomly placed straight lines in the flower blocks.

I used my BRAND NEW walking foot (happy birthday, to me!) on this and what a difference! WOW!

I also machine stitched the binding, which I never do on a full-on quilt, but with the walking foot and crisp binding edges, I stitched in the ditch and you cannot really see the stitching from it on the front of the table runner. 

Here it is! Finished and ready for the washer. I love to wash anything I quilt right away because it brings out the stitching and gives it that wrinkly, old-quilt look that I love. 

We love Mexican food

We LOVE Mexican food. The chips and salsa before dinner ensures decent behavior and everyone can find something they like on the menu.

Our favorite place is a bit fancier than the average Mexican place and feels a little more authentic. 

Being busy with school and swim, we don't get to eat out together as often as I'd like and it is a real treat when time permits us a place with a menu (or without a drive-thru). 

Life is so good!

warm and sunny

Going through my phone today, I found this series of before-Church pictures. Hard to believe as I sit here shivering from the 40 degree March weather that these were taken in January when it was hovering around 70 degrees. 

This time of year is hard to dress for! 

Where is Spring?

It is pine-straw laying weekend, so I hope it warms up and that they are as smiley as they were in these pictures...

boys

I am hoping that Sam has an inquiring mind that needs to know how things work. Maybe he will pursue engineering. That would explain why the brush I use to apply blush had the handle removed from the bristles. It would explain a lot of mysteries around the house, in fact.

For Christmas, my sweet friend bought me an oil diffuser. I LOVE it and use it in various rooms. I especially love to use it with peppermint oil when I can feel a migraine coming on. It makes the house smell great and I do find that it does help with headaches.

The other day I used it in the kitchen. Sam was amazed, enthralled, and drawn to the cool mist that it was putting out. I kept shooing him away and moving it back on the counter, and when I would turn around, there he was again.

Is this a "boy" thing or just my boy?

awesome: what it is and what it isn't

If you are this particular 8th grader and this is your retainer, this is not awesome.

Our kids are living in such a digital age...this student asked me to take and picture and text it to his mom so she could get an appointment right away (and maybe give her time to cool down before he got to the car?).

Having an autoimmune flare? NOT awesome...the beginning of the week was tough stuff for me this week...and truth be told, for those around me. 

but the good always outweighs the bad...

AWESOME is all around us. 

Hot coffee in the most perfect mug (from one of my favorite friends) is totes awesome.

Cutting out a new quilt in the most perfect fabric? AWESOME!

Visit Curly Girl Fabric for your own bundle...

Coming in to work and seeing love notes from students and coworkers that I share my desk with? Also, very awesome. 

Getting excited about having all quilt squares trimmed up and loving the color and pattern combinations? Yep. Awesome.

Taking Yoga and PiYo with a friend during times when my kids have swim practice? Awesome.

Not being as sore as I used to be after class? REALLY, REALLY AWESOME!

Getting the quilt blocks lined up and having your points meet? SO VERY AWESOME!

Getting to eat out in the middle of the week with my wonderful in-laws?

AWESOME!

Curious though...are you "pro-steak fry" or "anti-steak fry"?

While looking for witty memes to use in this post, I found the most awesome cartoons of thyroids...these are really adorable.

Today I woke up feeling pretty human, there is a weekend around the corner, and I am counting on getting some sewing room time in this Sunday...all very awesome...

What is AWESOME in your life today?

-and seriously, steak fries...awesome or meh?